Bent .500 wall links?

[zukijames]

After just a few trips my front 2 1/4 .500 wall lower links at bent, atleast 1 of maddies is and I think goose bent his .500 wall links.

goose's (when it happened) and maddies rig are sorta heavy I guess (for buggies) but mine is light

is anyone else running stupid heavy links like the ? Are they holding up?


in there defense I think mine are 50 inches long and maddies are like 55. And they are all pretty low and really flat

when I had them bored out the machine shop said. It was hardened steel , took them 4x longer than they expected


they are only slightly bent I'm just wondering if maybe the wait of the link Alone is what makes them bend so easily?

or if I was running 2 inch .250 wall it would be completely bent and ruined by now?

 

[Mcamish01]

Those are some long-ass links...I'm gonna assume they're DOM and not junk HREW but you've got a couple of options: 1) step up to 2.5" OD .500 wall DOM, 2) look into 2.5" 7075 AL, mine have held up great, but are only ~35" long, or finally 3) step up to Chromoly...

 

[jinxspot]

Same that I've seen on jeffs buggy 1/2 wall 2" DOM was bent after a few runs... but that was with a grizzly bear driving it the way it should be!!! Portal buggy never once had issues with Aluminum lowers and a near 6200lbs weight rating.

 

[mombobuggy]

James are you using drill stem? the 2.1/8in size is the reason I ask. For some reason drill stem bends easily in this application.

 

[zukijames]

Mine has taken some really hard hits dropping down ledges. Ryan I wonder if that has something to do with the fact the lowers on the portal buggy were so high up. I've only kissed my rear links a few times if at all.

they are only slightly bent just looking around for once it gets worse hopefully it doesn't

 

[zukijames]

I don't think so I got it from metal mart they had it in 2 , 2 1/8, 2 1/2 . But not enough 2 inch to do what I needed.

33 feet for $119 I figured it was worth a shot.. It's not DOM it is just seem less but I still thought it would be okay

 

[skippy]

7075 is the way to, 7075 absorbs the hits and bends a really long ways before it stays bent plus the weight savings on a "race" rig like yours is worth the upgrade unsprung weight is your enemy in a go fast rig

 

[zukijames]

Skippy wanta out a quote together for 2 links? Threaded for 1.25 ruff stuff joint? Maybe 50 inches long each mines only a wanta be race rig so I wasn't to worried about it, plus my axles are light , but it might be something worth looking into in the future

 

[STAG]

An underestimated amount of strength comes from tube OD rather than ID only. A driveshaft with a 5" OD and .065" wall is stronger than a 2" OD x .25" wall shaft.

I'd say step up your OD.

Or even sleeve your tube with .125"wall DOM. Like plywood, it is stronger in layers than if you even had solid-cored links.

 

[zukijames]

Isn't 2.120 pretty decent sized OD?

 

[jinxspot]

Those are some long-ass links...I'm gonna assume they're DOM and not junk HREW but you've got a couple of options: 1) step up to 2.5" OD .500 wall DOM, 2) look into 2.5" 7075 AL, mine have held up great, but are only ~35" long, or finally 3) step up to Chromoly...

I wanna say that 50" is gonna be considered really long for break over bendability...(if that's even a word), but you gotta imagine you take the good with the bad is all designs and we know things can take a beating and sometimes withstand years of abuse. (long links for good radius travel, but bend easier because they are so long in extreme situations)

Mine has taken some really hard hits dropping down ledges. Ryan I wonder if that has something to do with the fact the lowers on the portal buggy were so high up. I've only kissed my rear links a few times if at all.

they are only slightly bent just looking around for once it gets worse hopefully it doesn't

Oh I had that thing slammed on the rear lowers links tons of times, but have never had issue with Aluminum like I did with the DOM. My front lower's were bent pretty bad so I rotated them upside down and bent them back over several months, I ended up flipping them three times in two years. We have now flipped jeffs after three months of abuse to see if they'll take some rebound and hold up... if all works well he will use the same bent links for as long as it stays together.

An underestimated amount of strength comes from tube OD rather than ID only. A driveshaft with a 5" OD and .065" wall is stronger than a 2" OD x .25" wall shaft.

I'd say step up your OD.

Or even sleeve your tube with .125"wall DOM. Like plywood, it is stronger in layers than if you even had solid-cored links.

2nd on the sleeve option, I also had my spares that were sleeved DOM (the rear lower spare/replacements form the portal buggy)

 

[LT.]

Wow! I never would have thought those heavy wall links would bend. However, if I remember correctly I think that there was some truth to having a larger diameter tube with the same wall thickness would be stronger than a smaller diameter tube. Perhaps the fact that your links are flat has something to do with it. Seems like your rig would be on the links more often than others?

LT.

 

[zukijames]

Yeah the low belly and long flat links defiantly is harder on them than a 30 inch link on a rig with a 30 inch belly but I can deal with it. Plus the hi clearance from the bends might be kinda nice

 

[LT.]

Yeah the low belly and long flat links defiantly is harder on them than a 30 inch link on a rig with a 30 inch belly but I can deal with it. Plus the hi clearance from the bends might be kinda nice

I guess if you ride on them long enough they will be self clearenced. Then all you would need to do is adjust the uppers and roll with them. I wonder if it would be acceptable just to run the links once they are self clearenced and just add some trussing to them.

LT.

 

[zukijames]

I've seen guys wheeling with alot worse bends in there links.. That being said looked at them again tonight and they seem more bend and I Know they didn't hit coming off the trailer lol

 

[zukijames]

I've been lying they are 2 1/4 O.D.

 

[AaronPaige]

Mine are 2.5 od with .387 ish dom and in the 50 in range I think longer like 57 but my rockwells and 54 have not bent the lowers yet

 

[zukijames]

Why the hell.!

 

[ChestonScout]

Mine are 2.5 od with .387 ish dom and in the 50 in range I think longer like 57 but my rockwells and 54 have not bent the lowers yet

This is what my lower links are as well. No bending as far as I can tell. And my junk is 6900 lbs and they are pretty long to. At least 50"


My front links used to be 2" .5 wall. They didnt look bent to the eye but ended up having a slight bend in them. Nothing I was worried about.



I would suggest checking the suspension really good. Make sure there is no binding anywhere.

 

[zukijames]

This is what my lower links are as well. No bending as far as I can tell. And my junk is 6900 lbs and they are pretty long to. At least 50"


My front links used to be 2" .5 wall. They didnt look bent to the eye but ended up having a slight bend in them. Nothing I was worried about.



I would suggest checking the suspension really good. Make sure there is no binding anywhere.

not really sure how to check. I know none of the joints are even close to maxing out